As broadband continues to grow, IPTV has been growing along with it, and it is projected that services will grow from about 3.3 million in 2008 to 12.7 million by 2012 in the U.S., according to eMarketer.
Leading the way will be telecom providers AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which will account for the vast majority of growth.
Across the world growth is projected to be significant as well, with numbers showing it has doubled from March 2007 to March 2008. That's the second year in a row IPTV subscribers have doubled. Much of this is as a result of piggybacking on the growth of broadband around the world, which has now reached over 370 million.
The strength of IPTV is that it is completely on-demand, and flows into the lifestyle of online users who are socialized into searching and getting the content they prefer on the Internet.
Everything in the IPTV world is stored and ready to be retrieved at any time, making it similar to content on the Web.
Another value to marketers is it allows targeted marketing to users, as well as offering smaller content providers the opportunity to offer their wares to subscribers.
People will be able to customize their service, choosing the shows and content they want to watch, rather than appointment TV or limited choices.
Because IPTV is at an early part of its growth, projections as to its market penetration are wildly different, and really can't be counted on. Estimates range from 38.4 million worldwide subscribers from 2011 to 2012, all the way up to over 100 million.
It'll be very interesting to see if IPTV becomes a competitor of the Internet, or a complementary service. It will depend on how interactive it gets and the variety of content and options available. After all, you can just about get anything you want online now if you have a fast broadband connection.
The thought of having another option to add to our busy lives is difficult to comprehend at this time, and how IPTV would differentiate from the Internet has yet to be seen.
They'll probably position themselves as competitors of cable television, which has resisted a la carte services to this point. Of course cable is attempting their own on-demand services at this time too.
The question for IPTV is what happens when easy to use Web connections work with our TV sets. What would be the value of the service at that time? How would they differentiate?
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